14-Year-Old Scientist Wins $25,000 For Discovering Potential COVID-19 Remedy
Image via Shutterstock
A young scientist is paving the way towards a potential cure for COVID-19—and she is only 14 years old.
Anika Chebrolu won 3M’s Young Scientist Challenge after she discovered a drug that could provide a cure for the virus, per the competition’s website. Through in-silico methodology, a technique made via the use of a computer as explained on Drug Discovery and Evaluation: Safety and Pharmacokinetic Assays, Chebrolu found a molecule that can “selectively bind to the Spike protein of the SARS-CoV-2 virus,” 3M explained.
Chebrolu’s discovery has led to a potential cure for the virus, earning her US$25,000 in prize money. “I saw that there is a lot of media hype about my project since it involves the SARS-CoV-2 virus and it reflects our collective hopes to end this pandemic as I, like everyone else, wish that we go back to our normal lives soon,” Chebrolu told CNN.
The eighth grader told the publication that she initially entered the competition with the aim of finding a remedy for the influenza virus using the same method after she was down with a severe case of the flu in 2019. She was fascinated to find it was helpful for the coronavirus, too.
Chebrolu hopes to become a medical researcher and medical professor 15 years down the line, she told 3M.
Congratulations to Anika Chebrolu, America's Top #YoungScientist of 2020! Learn more about her winning 3M @DiscoveryEd Young Scientist Challenge invention: https://t.co/Vgn7jgUO6Z 🧫🦠🧪 pic.twitter.com/uJ6bDKu0GI
— 3M (@3M) October 13, 2020
My effort to find a lead compound to bind to the spike protein of the SARS-CoV-2 virus this summer may appear to be a drop in the ocean, but still adds to all these efforts.
— Anika Chebrolu (@ChebroluAnika) October 19, 2020
[via Fast Company, cover image via Shutterstock]
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